Joe Roberts (motorcyclist)
| Joe Roberts | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Roberts in 2024 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nationality | American | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | June 16, 1997 Malibu, California, United States | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Current team | OnlyFans American Racing Team | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bike number | 16 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Joe Roberts (born June 16, 1997) is an American professional motorcycle racer.[1][2] Roberts competes in the FIM Moto2 World Championship with OnlyFans American Racing Team aboard a Kalex chassis bike.[3]
Career
[edit]Early career
[edit]Roberts' introduction to motorcycles was at a young age. He first rode a 50 cc motorcycle just shy of his 4th birthday. Roberts's earliest competition was in youth flat track and Supermoto.[1] From there he transitioned to mini-road racing on kart tracks and then to full sized tracks on a Honda RS125. He competed successfully for two seasons in the USGPRU (United States Grand Prix Racer's Union) finishing 3rd in points in 125GP in 2010. At the end of 2010 he was invited to the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup try-outs for the 2011 season and was one of 12 selected from 100 applicants.
Roberts spent 3 seasons[4] (2011–2013) with the Red Bull Rookies. In his first season he recorded a win and a track record at Brno,[5] a track he had never seen before. He improved his results in 2012 with best finishes of 2nd, 4th, 5th[5] and was one of very few riders to be invited back for a 3rd year in 2013 to ride the new KTM Moto3 bike. Roberts showed good promise on the 4 stroke machine leading races in Jerez, Brno and Silverstone but some bad luck saw him fail to finish a number of races which lowered his final standing. That same year, just 6 days after his 16th birthday, he competed back in the US in the AMA aboard a Honda CBR600RR, recording a sensational double win at Barber Motorsports,[6] setting a record for the youngest win in AMA Pro Road racing. He won again at Laguna Seca and scored another double win at Miller Motorsports Park,[7] thereby scoring 5 wins from the 5 AMA races he entered.
In 2014 he returned full-time to the US to ride for Team Hammer[8] in AMA Daytona Sportbike on a Honda CBR600RR. However, the combination of an uncompetitive package and some injuries meant he wasn't able to continue his run of success from 2013. For 2015, Roberts returned to his winning ways aboard a Yamaha R6 in the new AMA/FIM MotoAmerica Stock600 class with 9 wins and a 2nd from 11 starts, sealing the championship at Laguna Seca,[9] before the final round of the series at New Jersey, where he moved up to the Supersport class.[10] There, he dominated practice and qualifying, had a runaway victory in Race 1 and finished a close second in Race 2. Finishing 3rd in Superprestigio in Las Vegas at the end of the year. 2016 saw him compete in AMA/MotoAmerica Supersport[11] on a Yamaha R6 where he climbed the podium 3 times and scored 3 pole positions. He was unfortunately forced to miss several races due to injury.[12]
Moto2 World Championship
[edit]AGR Team (2017)
[edit]2017
[edit]In 2017 Roberts returned to Europe[13] to compete in the FIM CEV Moto2 class with the AGRteam. Mid-year due to his strong performance on the Kalex machine, he was invited by AGR to join the World Championship Moto2[14] team and made a sensational debut in Brno coming from 29th on the grid to finish 10th[15] in his first race at the world level.
NTS RW Racing GP (2018)
[edit]2018
[edit]In 2018, he competed in Moto2 riding for NTS Racing GP.
American Racing (2019–2020)
[edit]2019
[edit]From 2019 season, Roberts riding for the American Racing.
2020
[edit]In 2020 Roberts qualified on pole position at the opening round of the season, becoming the first American rider to do so since Ben Spies at the 2010 Indianapolis motorcycle Grand Prix and the first one in Moto2 since Kenny Noyes at the 2010 French motorcycle Grand Prix. He finished the race in fourth, after never having finished better than 13th over the previous two seasons. He would qualify for pole again in the fourth round and finished the race in third, becoming the first American driver on the podium since Spies at the 2011 Valencian Community motorcycle Grand Prix and the first in mid class since John Kocinski at the 1993 Dutch TT. A documentary was made by Dorna following Roberts and American Racing titled Behind The Stars And Stripes.
After the 2020 season Roberts was seen as a hot commodity in the Grand Prix World Championship. Roberts was offered not only deals with multiple front running teams on the Moto2 grid but was even offered a MotoGP ride with Aprilia to partner Aleix Espargaro in 2021, a move that was endorsed not only by Roberts manager and American Racing team principal Eitan Butbul but also his mentor John Hopkins and was even endorsed by Espargaro himself.[16][17]
Italtrans Racing Team (2021–2023)
[edit]2021
[edit]Roberts ultimately declined the offer to move up to MotoGP for Aprilia upon consulting with Ducati rider Andrea Dovizioso and instead chose to race for Italtrans Racing Team, whom Moto2 series champion Enea Bastianini raced for before moving up to MotoGP himself.[18][19]
Italtrans Racing announced on September 27, 2021, that they had resigned Roberts for another season.[20] Roberts suffered a broken collarbone at Misano on October 22, 2021, and underwent surgery the following Tuesday, forcing him to miss the last two rounds of the 2021 season.[21]
Return to American Racing (2024)
[edit]American Racing Team announced a deal with Joe Roberts for the 2024 Moto2 season. The Malibu rider returns to the team that led him to make his debut in the world championship, now with sex work website OnlyFans as a big sponsor.[22] [23]
Career statistics
[edit]Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup
[edit]Races by year
[edit](key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | Pos | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | SPA1 12 |
SPA2 9 |
POR1 11 |
POR2 5 |
GBR1 16 |
GBR2 14 |
NED1 13 |
NED2 15 |
ITA 16 |
GER1 17 |
GER2 Ret |
CZE1 1 |
CZE2 12 |
RSM 13 |
12th | 65 | |
| 2012 | SPA1 7 |
SPA2 Ret |
POR1 9 |
POR2 5 |
GBR1 11 |
GBR2 12 |
NED1 4 |
NED2 12 |
GER1 13 |
GER2 11 |
CZE1 11 |
CZE2 2 |
RSM 12 |
ARA1 8 |
ARA2 13 |
9th | 101 |
| 2013 | AME1 NC |
AME2 Ret |
JER1 7 |
JER2 10 |
ASS1 5 |
ASS2 9 |
SAC1 Ret |
SAC2 11 |
BRN 4 |
SIL1 Ret |
SIL2 Ret |
MIS 7 |
ARA1 Ret |
ARA2 Ret |
14th | 60 |
FIM CEV Moto2 European Championship
[edit]Races by year
[edit](key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Bike | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | Pos | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Kalex | ALB 8 |
CAT1 6 |
CAT2 2 |
VAL1 Ret |
VAL2 4 |
EST1 11 |
EST2 3 |
JER 6 |
ARA1 4 |
ARA2 Ret |
VAL 3 |
5th | 111 |
MotoAmerica Superbike Championship
[edit]By season
[edit]| Season | Class | Motorcycle | Race | Win | Podium | Pts | Plcd |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Stock600 | Yamaha | 11 | 9 | 11 | N/A | 1st |
| 2016 | SSP | Yamaha | N/A | N/A | N/A | 142 | 6th |
Grand Prix motorcycle racing
[edit]By season
[edit]| Season | Class | Motorcycle | Team | Race | Win | Podium | Pole | FLap | Pts | Plcd |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Moto2 | Kalex | AGR Team | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 30th |
| 2018 | Moto2 | NTS | NTS RW Racing GP | 18 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 27th |
| 2019 | Moto2 | KTM | American Racing | 18 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 28th |
| 2020 | Moto2 | Kalex | American Racing | 15 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 94 | 7th |
| 2021 | Moto2 | Kalex | Italtrans Racing Team | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 59 | 13th |
| 2022 | Moto2 | Kalex | Italtrans Racing Team | 20 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 131 | 9th |
| 2023 | Moto2 | Kalex | Italtrans Racing Team | 20 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 93.5 | 13th |
| 2024 | Moto2 | Kalex | OnlyFans American Racing Team | 15 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 153* | 9th* |
| Total | 127 | 2 | 8 | 5 | 2 | 545.5 | ||||
By class
[edit]| Class | Seasons | 1st GP | 1st Pod | 1st Win | Race | Win | Podiums | Pole | FLap | Pts | WChmp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Moto2 | 2017–present | 2017 Czech Republic | 2020 Czech Republic | 2022 Portugal | 127 | 2 | 8 | 5 | 2 | 545.5 | 0 |
| Total | 2017–present | 127 | 2 | 8 | 5 | 2 | 545.5 | 0 | |||
Races by year
[edit](key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Class | Bike | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | Pos | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Moto2 | Kalex | QAT | ARG | AME | SPA | FRA | ITA | CAT | NED | GER | CZE 10 |
AUT 19 |
GBR 21 |
RSM Ret |
ARA 26 |
JPN | AUS | MAL | VAL | 30th | 6 | ||
| 2018 | Moto2 | NTS | QAT 25 |
ARG 25 |
AME 23 |
SPA Ret |
FRA 19 |
ITA 14 |
CAT 22 |
NED 21 |
GER 22 |
CZE 18 |
AUT 19 |
GBR C |
RSM 16 |
ARA 24 |
THA 13 |
JPN 18 |
AUS 18 |
MAL 18 |
VAL Ret |
27th | 5 | |
| 2019 | Moto2 | KTM | QAT 22 |
ARG 22 |
AME Ret |
SPA 20 |
FRA 14 |
ITA Ret |
CAT 20 |
NED 14 |
GER 25 |
CZE DNS |
AUT 21 |
GBR 22 |
RSM 16 |
ARA 30 |
THA Ret |
JPN 18 |
AUS 16 |
MAL 19 |
VAL 18 |
28th | 4 | |
| 2020 | Moto2 | Kalex | QAT 4 |
SPA 17 |
ANC 17 |
CZE 3 |
AUT 10 |
STY 12 |
RSM 10 |
EMI Ret |
CAT 5 |
FRA 6 |
ARA 8 |
TER 10 |
EUR Ret |
VAL 11 |
POR 7 |
7th | 94 | |||||
| 2021 | Moto2 | Kalex | QAT 6 |
DOH Ret |
POR 4 |
SPA 8 |
FRA Ret |
ITA 4 |
CAT 10 |
GER Ret |
NED Ret |
STY Ret |
AUT 16 |
GBR 10 |
ARA 13 |
RSM 23 |
AME 18 |
EMI DNS |
ALR 24 |
VAL DNS |
13th | 59 | ||
| 2022 | Moto2 | Kalex | QAT 8 |
INA 11 |
ARG 13 |
AME 8 |
POR 1 |
SPA 8 |
FRA 7 |
ITA 2 |
CAT Ret |
GER 13 |
NED 8 |
GBR 7 |
AUT 14 |
RSM 9 |
ARA 9 |
JPN 12 |
THA 8‡ |
AUS Ret |
MAL Ret |
VAL 15 |
9th | 131 |
| 2023 | Moto2 | Kalex | POR 14 |
ARG 14 |
AME 16 |
SPA 14 |
FRA 12 |
ITA 12 |
GER Ret |
NED 18 |
GBR 4 |
AUT Ret |
CAT 11 |
RSM 8 |
IND 3 |
JPN 12 |
INA 9 |
AUS 5‡ |
THA Ret |
MAL 8 |
QAT 11 |
VAL 8 |
13th | 93.5 |
| 2024 | Moto2 | Kalex | QAT 7 |
POR 2 |
AME 2 |
SPA 2 |
FRA 4 |
CAT 8 |
ITA 1 |
NED DNS |
GER 8 |
GBR Ret |
AUT 9 |
ARA Ret |
RSM 13 |
EMI 6 |
INA 6 |
JPN 27 |
AUS DNS |
THA | MAL | VAL | 9th* | 153* |
‡ Half points awarded as less than two thirds of the race distance (but at least three full laps) was completed.
* Season still in progress.
References
[edit]- ^ a b "Profile: MotoAmerica Supersport Racer Joe Roberts". Sport Rider. Retrieved March 15, 2018.
- ^ Sports, Dorna (August 3, 2017). "Introducing Joe Roberts: the new American on the block". www.motogp.com. Retrieved March 15, 2018.
- ^ "Moto2: American Joe Roberts Will Race Full-Time In 2018 World Championship (Updated)". www.roadracingworld.com. September 25, 2017. Retrieved March 15, 2018.
- ^ Cup, Red Bull MotoGP Rookies. "Joe Roberts | Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup". Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup. Retrieved March 15, 2018.
- ^ a b Aitken-Cade, Stewart (March 15, 2018). "USGPRU > Rider Profile: Joe Roberts". usgpru.net. Retrieved March 15, 2018.
- ^ "16-Year-Old Roberts Sweeps Barber AMA SuperSport Round". Ultimate Motorcycling. June 24, 2013. Retrieved March 15, 2018.
- ^ "MotoAmerica Sunday Race Report From Miller Motorsports Park". Motorcyclist. Retrieved March 15, 2018.
- ^ "Joe Roberts Signs With Team Hammer for 2014 - Cycle News". Cycle News. Retrieved March 15, 2018.
- ^ "Joe Roberts Crowned Champion At Laguna Seca - Cycle News". Cycle News. Retrieved March 15, 2018.
- ^ "Meen Yamaha Rider Joe Roberts Conquers Supersport Class – MotoAmerica". motoamerica.com. Retrieved March 15, 2018.
- ^ "MotoAmerica 2016 Season Finale Race Results and New Champions". Motorcyclist. Retrieved March 15, 2018.
- ^ "Injuries Will Keep Joe Roberts Out Of MotoAmerica Action This Weekend At Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca". www.roadracingworld.com. July 8, 2016. Retrieved March 15, 2018.
- ^ "American Joe Roberts Interview: "Moto2 Is The Hardest Championship In The World" | MotoMatters.com | Kropotkin Thinks". motomatters.com. Retrieved March 15, 2018.
- ^ "American Joe Roberts Promoted To AGR Moto2 World Championship Team". www.roadracingworld.com. July 26, 2017. Retrieved March 15, 2018.
- ^ "American Joe Roberts Scores Top-10 Finish In Moto2 Debut At Brno". Cycle World. Retrieved March 15, 2018.
- ^ McLaren, Peter (November 20, 2020). "Portimao MotoGP: Joe Roberts 'good option for future' as Aprilia rumours grow". Crash.com. Crash Media Group.
- ^ "Joe Roberts "on the list" for Aprilia in 2021". MotoGP.com. Dorna. November 21, 2020.
- ^ Racing, American (October 15, 2020). "Moto2: Joe Roberts Signs With ItalTrans Racing For 2021". Road Racing.com. Road Racing. Retrieved April 26, 2021.
- ^ Patterson, Simon (November 28, 2020). "MANAGER DISAPPOINTED IN ROBERTS FOR REJECTING APRILIA OFFER". The Race. The Race Media.
- ^ Carruthers, Paul (September 27, 2021). "JOE ROBERTS RENEWS MOTO2 DEAL WITH ITALTRANS RACING". MotoAmerica.com. MotoAmerica. Retrieved November 3, 2021.
- ^ Swarts, David (October 25, 2021). "Moto2 Roberts Undergoes Successful Surgery on Broken Collarbone". Road Racing World & Motorcycle Technology. Road Racing World Publishing. Retrieved November 3, 2021.
- ^ "Joe Roberts returns to American Racing for 2024 Moto2™ season". Dorna Sports. August 31, 2023.
- ^ "OnlyFans confirmed as 2024 title sponsor of Moto2's American Racing". crash.net. November 21, 2023.
External links
[edit]
- Joe Roberts at MotoGP.com
- Joe Roberts at AS.com (in Spanish)
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